


Midnight Tears

by Supernova95



Category: Batman (Comics), Teen Titans (Comics)
Genre: Angst, Bruce is a good dad, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Reading Aloud, after a little prompting, character injury
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-08
Updated: 2016-02-15
Packaged: 2018-05-18 23:25:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,731
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5947267
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Supernova95/pseuds/Supernova95
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Cold tears trickled down his cheeks, pooling in his ears as he lay in bed; he missed those days. The days where Bruce would sit at his bedside after patrol, stroke a hand through his hair and read to him from one of the many books he bought Tim. The days where Bruce would put on silly voices, just for him. The days where Bruce’s voice carried light, loving, tones when he spoke to him. Not the dark and gritty harsh tones he makes whenever Tim is even in the room.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> The bits in italics are from Enid Blyton’s 6th book in the Secret Seven series “Good Work Secret Seven”

“… _"We’ll, I’ll tell you what I think,” said Peter, carefully moving his humbug to the other cheek. “I think those men were up to something. I don’t know what- but I think we ought to find out something about them.”_ “

Bruce’s voice rang through his headphones like a wave of calm.

” _“But how can we?” Asked Pam. “I don’t like the sound of them anyway.”  
“Well, if you don’t want to be in on this, there’s nothing to stop you from walking out,” said Peter, getting cross with Pam. “The door’s over there.”_

_Pam changed her mind in a hurry. “Oh no- I want to be in in this; of course I do. You tell us what to do Peter.”_

_“Well- we don’t know very much,” said Peter. “Excuse me, all of you, but I’m going to take my humbug out for a minute or two, while I talk- there, that’s better. No, Scamper, don’t sniff at it; you don’t even like humbugs!”_ “

Tim sniffles a laugh as he remembers these books, The Secret Seven by Enid Blyton, he had half the series, but his parent’s refused to buy him any more story books after he had turned eight, no he was far too old for story books.

But Bruce had bought him the books he had been missing; he even read to him on occasion, Tim had to admit it was nice, he… missed it.

” _With his sweet safely on a clean piece of paper beside him, Peter addressed the meeting._

_“We haven’t really much to go on, as I said,” he began. “But we do have a few clues. One is ‘Sid’s place’. We ought to try to find out where that is and watch it, to see if either of the men go there. Then we could shadow them. We’d have to watch it at five o'clock each day.”_

_“Go on,” said George._

_“Then there’s Q8061” said Peter. “That’s probably a telephone number. We could find out about that.”_ “

The Secret Seven was one of the books that had got him interested in detective work to begin with; it was just a group of kids helping society out… Tim had wanted to be like that.

” _“That’s silly!” Said Pam. “We’d have to look all through every number in the telephone book- we don’t even know the name of the exchange!”_

_Peter took no notice of Pam. “One man had a low-brimmed hat and long hair down to his collar,” he said. “And I think there was something wrong with one hand- it looked as if the tip of the middle finger was missing. I only just caught sight of it in the lamp-post, but I’m fairly sure.”_

_“And the other man had very short hair,” said Janet suddenly. “I did notice that. Oh, and Peter- do you remember that he said he had dropped something? Do you think he had? We never looked to see! He didn’t find whatever it was.”_

_“Gosh, yes- I forgot about that,” said Peter. “That’s most important. We’ll all go and look in the car at once. Bring your torches Secret Seven!”_  " There was the sound of a boom closing and some nondescript rustling before he heard Bruce's voice once more. "Goodnight Tim."

The sound of a short kiss filled his earphones and recording ended there, when Tim had fallen asleep.

Cold tears trickled down his cheeks, pooling in his ears as he lay in bed; he missed those days. The days where Bruce would sit at his bedside after patrol, stroke a hand through his hair and read to him from one of the many books he bought Tim. The days where Bruce would put on silly voices, just for him. The days where Bruce’s voice carried light, loving, tones when he spoke to him. Not the dark and gritty harsh tones he makes whenever Tim is even in the room.

It shouldn’t have surprised him. Love was only meant for Robin, not pretenders like him.

Tim... Tim had changed when Bruce died, and that was just one step too far, one mistake too many.

And so, Bruce didn’t love him anymore.

But Tim still loved Bruce, and Tim could still only fall asleep to the gentle soothing of the man’s rich timbre. The deep gravely notes of his voice pushing buttons in Tim’s brain that say “It’s okay, you’re safe now, you can switch off,” so he did.

But Bruce wasn’t there to read to him anymore; and would probably never be again. And Tim isn’t safe, not here with this team held together with bricks made of broken words and deceitful lies from a boy who’s been outcast from his own family; and mortar full of the promise that they would be safe and protected, a promise he had broken oh so many times.

He had given up his life.

And to what end?

He had no family, no home, no place where he could just relax. His legal guardian hated him, no longer trusted him and would much rather see him with a sword through _his_ heart than _anyone_ else, even The Joker. His team ran on knife edges, tittering on the cusp of falling to pieces simply because he couldn’t (wasn’t allowed) to tell them his name for some stupid and unwarranted fear of them making the Wayne connection.

How did it all go so wrong? How did he fail so badly?

Damian was right, he was useless; he can’t even fall asleep at night without listening to the one person who will never look at him, let alone speak to him in such a loving manner ever again.

Completely and utterly useless.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The italics are from Arrows of the Queen by Mercedes Lackey part of the Heralds of Valdemar Trilogy.

“Fuck!” Superboy cursed, as he cradled Red Robin awkwardly in his arms. It hadn’t been a good weekend. There had been multiple coordinated attacks over the continental United States and they had been tasked with keeping San Francisco safe.

It was: kinda.

Well, it was safer than it had been that morning, which had to count for something.

Everything had been going pretty well until their esteemed leader had decided that it was a good idea to jump in front of a sword. Admittedly that sword had been thrust at Bunker’s back and the boy had been concentrating too much on taking out those in front of him to notice.

But that was no excuse for the only non-metahuman in their rag tag team to jump in front of a fucking sword.

If Red Robin survives this Kon will kill him.

“You absolute-” Kon started, picking the boy up as gently as he could, given the circumstances. Red Robin tried to say something, his chest expanding with the intake of breath, only to collapse again in a bloody coughing fit. “Don’t try to talk idiot. Fuck, what do I do?”

Kon searched the battleground, things seemed to be calming down, very few of the alien ninja things (he’d ask Red later) remained conscious, and those that did were soon realised that they had lost. The tide had turned in their favour.

He searched again; Wonder Girl would know what to do. She at least had a little experience in this sort of thing. He found her quickly; she was helping the search and rescue mission look for civilians caught in the semi collapse of one of the first hit buildings.

“Cassie!!” He shouted. The blonde turned from where she was shifting rubble, her eyes widened in shock and she ran over to them.

“What happened?” She asked as Kon lowered Red Robin to the ground again and began putting pressure on the wound. God she hoped it wasn’t too late.

“The idiot stepped in front of a sword.”

“He stepped… in front of a sword?”

“Yup.”

Cassie pushed harder on the wound. “Idiot.”

Red Robin smirked. At least he was still conscious, not that they could tell with that god-forsaken mask on. Cassie reached up to take it off, they weren’t going to get anywhere with that thing obscuring the one thing that would tell them if the kid was fading, but before she could a hand sprung to her wrist.

“Don’t, please. Call. Batman.” Red Robin said, barely whispering, before his hand went slack and he obviously slipped unconscious.

“Call Batman? How the hell do we call Batman?” Superboy forced out in a whisper.

“ _I_ don’t know. But before we do anything we need to find a paramedic and get him stable.”

“I thought you could do that. Being a street thief and all.”

“Ah yes. Living on the streets gives me a medical degree.” Cassie deadpanned. She raised an eyebrow and Kon shrugged, running off to call over one of the attending paramedics.    

“… but the mask stays on.” He finished as he dragged the paramedics over to their bleeding teammate.

“How am I supposed to treat him if he has a mask on?”

“He was stabbed through the stomach with a sword, he didn’t hit his head.”

Taking one last look at Red Robin Cassie turned to the paramedic.

“He’s suffered severe trauma to his stomach, but his suit looks to have been designed with something like this in mind, he doesn’t seem to have lost vast amounts of blood, but he could soon if he’s not treated immediately.”

The man looked at her almost in shock.

“Well go!” she shouted. Red was not dying on them, not when they’d all just finally got to a good place in their friendships and team.

Kon carried their injured teammate to one of the idling ambulances and gently lowered him to the gurney.

“Remember, the mask stays on.”

The startled paramedics nodded and closed the doors before taking off to one of the local hospitals, they’d worry about which one later, but at least Red was being taken care of.

Kon slumped down on some of the nearby rubble, breathing a sigh of relief before,

“How the _hell_ are we going to contact Batman?”

Cassie looked at him with a smile. She huffed a laugh.

“We could always try Bruce Wayne?”

“Who?”

“Bruce Wayne.”

“Yeah, I heard you the first time, who is he exactly?”

“C’mon you’ve got to know who Bruce Wayne is.”

“No I really don’t.”

“He’s a multi-billionaire Gotham playboy philanthropist, or at least that’s what the magazines say… oh and last month he came out saying that he privately funds the Batman.”

Kon looked at her with disbelief. “So he’s a stupid multi-billionaire Gotham playboy philanthropist then. He’s basically put a huge target on his back and the backs of everyone close to him.”

“Yes, but stupid as he may be, he could get in touch with Batman.”

Kon weighed their options… well it was this or nothing so they really ought to give it a shot.

“Fine. How are we doing this?”

Cassie smiled and pulled out her phone. “Street thief remember.”

“Hello, Bruce Wayne’s office how may I help you?” A woman’s voice crackled though the phone, overly polite and possibly trying too hard at her job as a secretary.

“Hi. I need to speak with Bruce Wayne.”

“I’m sorry Mr Wayne is busy right now. Can I take a message or schedule you an appointment?”

“No. This can’t wait. I need to speak to Batman.”

“I’m sorry I’m not following.”

“Bruce Wayne funds Batman therefore he can get in touch with Batman. I need to speak with Batman it’s an emergency.”

There was a pause, some tapping and a sigh before the woman came back, “Who are you and how did you get this number?” The woman had dropped all pretence, her voice clear and commanding.

“My name’s Wondergirl, I’m with the Teen Titans and that doesn’t matter right now. Red Robin’s been hurt and he asked us to get Batman so you’d better help us or I swear to God I will find you and make you wish you’d never been born.”

The woman chortled. “Been there done that. What’s happened to Red Robin, his suit alarm hasn’t been set off.”

Kon couldn’t take it anymore; they were taking too much time. This woman obviously knew Batman but had no urgency to her voice, even when they told her Red Robin was hurt.

“He was stabbed though the stomach with a fucking sword is what happened.”

The woman cursed and Kon smiled; that would show her.

“The Teen Titans are taking care of San Francisco right now correct?”

“Yeah.” Kon replied.

“Batman’s on his way.” She said and swiftly ended the call.

“So. Find Red.” Cassie asked, looking just as bemused as he probably did.

Kon nodded, “Yeah, find Red.”

-

Red Robin had been taken to the trauma centre at San Francisco General Hospital. Or so Kon and Cassie found out after making some fruitless enquiries at the battlefield and therefore being forced to visit every hospital in San Francisco until they found their leader.

“Hello? I need to know which room Red Robin is in.” Cassie said to the desk clerk.

“Can I have proof of identification and your relationship to the patient please?” The woman didn’t even look up rom her screen; it was pretty obvious she was running on autopilot. Cassie didn’t blame her, it had been a long day for everyone.

“I’m Wondergirl and this is Superboy and Red Robin is our team leader.”

The clerk’s head shot up, eyes going wide at the sight.

“Are either of you his next of kin, or his family.”

“No… but Batman’s on his way.”

“I’m sorry, but I can only divulge patient information to next of kin or family members.”

“But he is my family, the teen titans are all I’ve got.” Kon objected.

“I’m sorry.” the clerk replied.

“That’s okay,” Cassie said before Kon could stick his foot in it again. “Are you sure that you can’t even tell us where we should go to wait for news? Anything?”

The clerk looked around than tapped away at her computer, “He’s still in surgery, so it’ll probably be best to head up to floor four using the elevators around the corner.” she waved a hand to her left, “Turn left when you get to the fourth floor and follow the red line on the ground.”

Kon wasted no time in grabbing her wrist and pulling her to the elevator.

Cassie sighed with relief. “Thank you so much,” she said as the clerk nodded with a small smile before she disappeared from view.

He was okay.

Well he was still in surgery; but that at least meant that he was alive. Right?

It didn’t take them long to fine the white plastic chairs set out for families waiting to hear from the trauma surgeons. Uncomfortable they may have been, but Cassie was just so exhausted that as soon as she was off her feet and somewhat leaning against Kon’s arm she was dead asleep.

-

Kon nudged Cassie the moment he noticed Him. The Batman. Red’s father? Guardian? Mentor? Standing stoically in the corner of the room, his arms crossed and foot tapping, mildly irritating Kon’s heightened senses.

That was probably what made him notice Batman in the first place.

Cassie startled awake and frantically looked around in her confusion before her eyes settled.

“Oh my God!” She whispered. Batman didn’t even twitch, as far as they could tell his gaze hadn’t left the surgery door, as though the longer he stared at it the more likely it would be for a nurse or doctor to come out and give him news.

She looked from Batman back to Kon and moved her eyes to the door. “We should go.” She breathed, it already felt like they were intruding. Kon nodded and wordlessly they got up.

“Don’t.” The voice was deep and rough, but nothing like the dark growl that they had been told to expect.

It shocked Kon; in the few months he had been alive he had always been taught that Batman was terrifying, force of nature. But really he was just a man. A father. He bled, he felt pain, and he felt loss… probably more keenly than any of them cared to recognise.

Because he was Batman.

His only superpower was the courage to dress up in armour plating and run around a godforsaken city every night beating up criminals.

He didn’t have super speed or super strength or invulnerability; and neither did his kids.

Red was just a boy really. Harvest’s files said he was probably in his mid to late teens. Kon’s gut churned. Did red not understand how vulnerable he was? Did he not understand that the rest of them could survive a sword to the gut pretty easily, but he would not?

Kon was going to have a long talk with the kid when they got out of here.

“Please.” Batman made an abortive move towards them, like he was going grab hold to keep them there. “You’re his friends, I’m – He needs his friends right now.” Even with the cowl on the man looked defeated.

Cassie spun out of Kon’s loose grip on her arm. She’d heard it enough to know that sounded an awful lot like ‘I’m not planning on sticking around’ and she almost lost it. Instead she swallowed her rage and let it pool in her gut, giving her the courage to stalk up to the Batman, fists curled.

“He needs his father, master, mentor, whatever it is that you are to him to stick around long enough for him to wake up.” She seethed. “He’s your son, padawan, mentee. He’s your goddamn responsibility. You can’t just walk away from that. You can’t just leave him in a hospital on the other side of the country saying ‘he needs his friends’. I can promise you, he needs you more.” Fuming she spun on her heel and dropped back into the plastic chairs without waiting for a reaction.

As she did the surgery doors opened up and some nurses wheeled Red out on a hospital bed. He was as white as the sheets and hooked up to half a dozen different machines, but as the hart rate monitor beeped annoyingly, he was still alive.

A surgeon walked out, visibly exhausted, yet unfazed by the Batman.

“You next of kin?” the Batman nodded once, “He had major lacerations to his intestines and a lot of internal bleeding. His suit however did do a lot to put immediate pressure on the wound and is probably the only reason he’s alive right now. We have done all we can to stabilise him and repair the damage. As far as we can tell right now the surgery was a success, but we need to keep him in for observations for the foreseeable future, there’s always the chance of complications.

“Due to the nature of his injuries we’re not going to put him in a medically induced coma, as we need him to communicate if anything is going wrong so he should wake up sometime in the next few hours. We’ve put him in a private intensive care room, usually we don’t allow it, but feel free to wait in there.”

The Batman thanked the surgeon and quickly followed Red Robin, signalling for them to come too.

-

The first thing he noticed was that the lights were far too bright, shouldn’t it be dark right now? It’s night time right? Wait…

Tim blinked, trying to focus his blurred vision, there was something… someone to his left that looked an awful lot like Bruce, but Bruce was back in Gotham wasn’t he?

Wait, where was he? What happened?

Yes that was definitely Bruce, in uniform sitting by his… bedside? Saying something?

Tim tried to move, but he just felt so heavy and woozy that he couldn’t, instead he tuned into Bruce’s voice. His soft dark timbre never failed to sooth Tim.

 _‘ “Elspeth’s nurse?” Jadus was so startled by Talia’s question that he actually My Lady down. “Talia, why in the name of the Nine would old Melidy want to keep you away from Elspeth?” ’_ His voice rumbled and Tim felt happiness wash over him.

Bruce was reading the Heralds of Valdemar to him. Was he back in Gotham? The book has a place on his mantelpiece bookshelf for his more commonly read books.

No he could hear beeping, he could feel an IV in his arm and it didn’t _feel_ like Gotham. No, he was probably just at a hospital… why was he at a hospital? The beeping intensified.

“Tim?” Bruce said, and he soon standing over his bed carefully trying to hug him. “We were so worried, you’ve been in and out of surgery three times, I thought I was going to lose you.”

“Wha-?” Tim managed to say, his voice was so dry and rough from disuse.

“Hey shhh, don’t try to talk, you’re going to be okay, you were really hurt in a recent battle. So you were brought to the hospital. Your teammates managed to get in contact with Barbara who found me. I came straight here. You’re going to be okay Timmy.”

It sounded more like reassurance for Bruce than him but Tim would take anything he got. It made his heart flutter to think that Bruce would just drop everything to come and make sure he was okay.

“Wn-grl, sup-boy”

“Are just downstairs getting some food, they’ve been camped out here the whole time too. A good team you’ve made here. A little rough around the edges, but I’m proud of you Tim, they’d do anything to protect each other, so will you.”

An un-gloved hand carded though his hair. Tim hasn’t felt this good in a long time, his heart actually hurt and that was definitely not injury induced.

He reached over for where he thought the book was and Bruce soon got the picture.

“It was just something I found in the hospital, I know you have it on one of your bookshelves and I remember how I used to read you to sleep all the time, it helped calm you down… so I thought…”

Tim smiled and pushed the book towards him signalling him to continue.

Bruce smiled back, “Well if you insist.”

_‘ “It’s not Melidy that’s doing it, it’s the other one,” Talia replied. “Hulda. Melidy doesn’t seem to do much really-” ’_

Tim drifted back off to Bruce’s voice, finally feeling safe again.


End file.
